You can watch the game, listen to the sound system -- all the makings for a tailgating dream.

For that matter, you can even use it to carry off the opposing players injured on the field.

"Uniqueness," says the Carolina Fan Carrier's co-creator Ronnie Rudd. "And it was really ideal for eight people back there. There's really not that many vehicles that you can pile that many people in."

Featuring TVs, a microwave, a refrigerator, a stereo system, wood tiling, the former ambulance now transports the families of Rudd and fellow builder Douglas Hall to the Carolina game in style.

"It draws a crowd," Hall said.

"We'll drive down the interstate and people will get in front of us and slow us up so they can take a picture," Rudd said smiling.

Acquired from a local volunteer fire department, the 1986 Ford ambulance ended its career saving lives about three years ago when it was scheduled to be rotated out of the fire station's lineup.

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"We originally were looking for a bus," Rudd said. "But then a buddy of mine called me one night and we went and looked at it the next night."

The two longtime friends spent several thousand dollars converting the emergency vehicle into a tailgater's dream wagon. It sports an inverter to run the refrigerator and stereos, not to mention the foldout flat screen TV.

"We'll go to the game and when we come back, we'll have 30 people watching the TV," Rudd said.

The two Gamecocks bought the former ambulance after having for years traveled by chartered bus to road games -- trips that sometimes were more eventful than the games. On one trip to Knoxville, the original bus caught fire and the replacement broke down, Rudd said.

No one was injured, Rudd said, and two Tennessee fans crammed the stranded Gamecock fans in their vehicle and took them to the game.

But that incident and the one later in Baton Rouge where LSU fans warned them about several unsafe streets sparked an idea for their own transportation. The search for the proper vehicle began.

After purchasing the ambulance, Hall and Rudd began removing items pertinent to medical storage and swapped them for shelves, which now serve as the entertainment center that boasts three TVs and all the appliances needed to cook for a party of a couple dozen hungry Gamecock fans.

Outside, the ambulance theme remains. There's fresh paint from a local shop, garnet, of course, and the medical cross that now boasts a Carolina Gamecock emblem.

A reversed letter "Gamecocks" leads the way on the hood. Except for the paint work, the two did the work themselves.

"If you see it coming in your rearview mirror, you can read it," Hall said. "It's where 'ambulance' used to be."

Underneath the garnet hood lurks a 460-cubic-inch engine that the two builders said can pass anything on the interstate.

"It won't pass a gas station," Rudd said jokingly. The now garnet-clad carrier averages about 12 miles per gallon, the two said.

But whether at gas stations or passing cars on the interstate, the ambulance turns heads. It's been featured on ESPN and FOX, Rudd said.

Neither Rudd nor Hall attended Carolina. They've simply been fans from their youth, diehard fans of Carolina football.

"I was always growing up pulling for the underdog," he said. "And the color orange is the ugliest color."

As for today's game, the Carolina ambulance will be parked outside Clemson's Death Valley where the Rudd and Hall clans hope to see some tamed Tigers. Their prediction: Carolina, 21-17.

"I think the defense will get a score," Hall said. "(Clemson tailback C.J.) Spiller, if we can spy him, we'll be all right."

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

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